Exoduz
by Solera
Summary: Different types of people. Different backgrounds. Different goals. Fate really has a way of stringing the weirdest types of people together. OC-centric. Canon characters will make some appearances.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** SAO does not belong to me. The only character belonging to me is Resha Midori / «Solace». The other characters are from my guildmates in Grand Chase PH.

**A/N: **Most of the things in this chapter are from the SAO Novel, but please read it, as it introduces one of the OCs. This is an OC(group) fanfic. So if you don't like those, you're free to leave.

Everything will change after chapter 2 is out. This fic will follow canon timeline. Although the canon characters will only make some appearances during events or times when the original characters are there.

Reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

**Prologue**

….

May 2022…. This date spurred the massive uproar due to the creation of one of the worlds' most awaited device- The «Nerve Gear», a device that completely immersed oneself into a virtual reality.

Hachiko Sora, an 16 year old teenage boy, couldn't contain his excitement at the way the virtual reality worlds work.

Nerve Gear had realized the future foundation for gaming with FullDive. However, due to the innovation of the actual machine, only unremarkable titles came forth for the all-important software. They were all puzzles, education related, or environmental type games; causing discontent among game addicts like Sora.

Nerve Gear can truly render a virtual reality.

However, a user could only walk 100 meters before hitting a wall in that world; it was really a huge letdown. It was almost unavoidable that hard core gamers like Sora, who had been deeply absorbed in the experience of being within the game, started anticipating a certain game genre.

Something changed this system, however.

«FullDive».

It was a total seclusion from reality, fitting of the word "full".

The reason for this is that the Nerve Gear not only sent fake signals to the five senses, it also blocked and rerouted the orders that the brain sent to the body.

This can be called the most basic requirement for moving freely in a virtual reality. If the body received the brain's signals when the user was in FullDive, the moment the user decided they wanted to «run» their actual body would run into a wall.

Because the Nerve Gear could reroute the commands the brain sent through the spinal cord, players could move their avatars around freely.

Gamers were waiting for a network response game, the kind that let millions of players log in and raise, fight with, and live as a character of their own—that is to say, an MMORPG.

When the anticipation and craving reached its limit, the first VRMMORPG was announced just in time, «Sword Art Online». The stage for the game is a floating castle consisting of 100 floors.

A huge castle made of stone and steel floating in an endless sky.

That was all this world was.

It took a varied group of craftsmen one month to survey the place; the diameter of the base floor was about 10 kilometers—large enough that the entirety of Setagaya-ku would fit on it. Above, there were 100 floors stacked directly on top of each other; its sheer size was unbelievable. It was impossible to even guess how much data it consisted of.

Inside, there were a couple of large cities, countless small towns and villages, forests, plains, and even lakes. Only one stairway linked each floor to another, and the stairways were in dungeons where large numbers of monsters roamed, so discovering and getting through was no easy matter. However, once someone broke through and arrived at a city in the higher floor, the «Teleport Gates» there and in every city in the lower floors would connect, making it possible for anyone to move freely through these levels.

The name of the floating castle was «Aincrad»; Otherwise known as...

«Sword Art Online»

The players lived on this world relying only on their sword and drive to discover the route to the upper floors, defeat countless monsters, and make their way endlessly to the top.

«Magic», considered an indispensable part of fantasy MMORPGs, had been boldly left out. An almost endless number of skills, called «Sword Skills», were created. It was part of a plan to let players actually feel the experience of fighting with their own bodies through FullDive as much as possible.

Skills were varied, including productive skills and everyday skills, allowing the player to not only adventure the huge game but also actually «live» in it. If they so wanted, and if their skill levels were high enough, they could buy a house and live as shepherds.

As the information was steadily revealed, the gamers' enthusiasm only grew.

The beta test only recruited a thousand testers. It's said that one hundred thousand people, the number of half the Nerve Gear sold at that time, volunteered to be a tester. Luck was the only reason that Hachiko Sora got through the narrow gap and was picked. Beta testers also received the additional benefit of being able to pre-order the game.

The two months of beta testing were like a dream. At school, Sora couldn't concentrate due to thinking endlessly of his skill set, equipment, and items. The beta test ended in the blink of an eye.

And now— November 6, 2022, Sunday.

«Sword Art Online», after all the preparations were finished, officially started its online service at 1 PM.

Of course, Sora had been waiting for 30 minutes and logged on without even a second's delay. When he checked the server, over ninety-five hundred people had already logged on. It seemed as if all of the people who had been lucky enough to get their hands on the game felt the same way Sora did. All the online shopping sites announced that the game was sold out seconds after it had gone on sale. The offline sales, which had started yesterday, had created lines of people who had queued up for four days, creating enough of a racket to get on the news. That meant that all the people who had been able to buy a copy of the game were almost all serious game addicts.

After logging onto SAO, Sora or he's in-game name, «Neko», walked along the nostalgic stone paved roads of the «Starting City» before he headed for the weapons shop. Looking through the list, «Neko» bought the basic «Pole Arm» from the shop. Looking at his right, «Neko» saw another player that bought a basic «Two-handed sword».

'He looks like he's been though this before. He maybe a beta tester like me...' he thought. "Hey, do you want to party with me? It would be faster to hunt if we do," asked «Neko».

The black-haired emo-looking player looked at «Neko» indifferently before saying in a cold voice, "I don't know you." He turned and said, "Don't talk to me." After that, he walked away.

«Neko» blinked at the player before shrugging, 'Oh well, not my fault he's anti social.' He looked around and smirked 'I wonder where I could get a flute... I never did get to buy one last time.'


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Of course, [SAO] does not belong to me. Nor are the contents of the Floor 1 in Aincrad. The only character I own is «Solace».

* * *

**Chapter 1**

An «Enraged Wolf» bit through «Sylvie»'s shoulder, causing him to grit his teeth..

The thin line at the top left corner of his field of vision shrank slightly. At the same time a cold hand passed over his heart.

The green line —called the «hp bar»— is a visual rendering of players' life force in this game. There was still a little over 66% left. No, that phrase isn't appropriate enough. Right now, he was about 34% closer to death.

«Sylvie» jumped backwards before the wolfs' «Furious Swipe» skill managed to connect to his body again.

"Eat this!" a glowing yellow broad sword swung upwards at the «Enraged Wolf», causing its' «hp bar» to decrease.

«Sylvie» activated the sword skill «Avalanche» to finish off the «Enraged Wolf». The wolf cried out in pain. With a sound similar to breaking glass, it broke down into infinite polygons and disappeared.

This is the «Death» of this world. It is instantaneous and short, a perfect destruction, not leaving even a single trace.

«Sylvie» breathed a sigh of relief. A fist bobbed his head, causing him to stumble slightly. "Oi!" he said indignation.

"You baka!" a teenage girl with waist-long brown hair berated «Sylvie». "Why did you charge in like that?! You could've died!"

"What? I know I could beat it easily," he boasted. "Why are you even so concerned?"

"Ugh! This is why I can't stand boys!" the girl huffed in irritation.

«Sylvie» looked at her, shocked. "What? Do you like me or something?"

"W-what?! No I don't! You baka!" she said while blushing.

«Neko» chuckled at the two's antics before saying, "I'd love to stay and listen some more… however, we got some company."

Glancing around, both teens saw the numerous «Enraged Wolf» surrounding them.

Both dual handed swordsmen and one pole-arm user readied their weapons and engaged the pack of «Enraged Wolf»

«Sylvie» remembered what had changed him… the moment that everything ended and began.

* * *

A black haired, emo-looking teenager, «Sylvie», looked up in shock. "I... I'm stuck in this world...? This game...?" he muttered in disbelief. Just moments ago, he was hunting at the «Wolf Plains» for a quest to obtain the broad sword «Nightfall». It was annoying that «Sylvie» got teleported during a battle against an «Enraged Wolf». However, this was a more pressing issue—

_The «log out» button was gone. No one can get out of the game._

Kayaba Akihiko—the maker of «Sword Art Online» trapped ten thousand players in the floating castle «Aincrad». The only way to get out was to clear all 100 floors and defeat the «boss» of the highest floor. It would be incredibly difficult.

The beta testers, «Sylvie» included, did not even reach the 8th floor during the 1 month of beta testing. He did hear of a player that reached the 8th floor—but that was just a day or two before the test ended.

It would be close to impossible to clear the game in a year or two... specially with how many of the players are just teenagers and kids. There would also be lots of people who wouldn't dare go out of the «Starting City»- those that were afraid of «dying». After all...

_Once your «hp» reaches zero, you will «die», both in-game and in real life._

'Maybe it was a good thing I got teleported during my battle,' «Sylvie» thought before looking up to his «hp bar». It was in the «yellow zone» at 58%…

As the "tutorial" by Kayaba finished, the players were in an uproar. «Sylvie» knew he would have to get out of the «Starting City» before something drastic happens—like suicides and PK attempts due to depression. He was tempted to go to an «inn» and hide there until the game finished... but his pride kept him from doing so.

Breathing in deeply... «Sylvie» looked forward and went to an «Alchemist Shop». 'It wouldn't do if I don't have any potions with me...' he thought, 'given the current situation.'

"Ah..." a black haired teen said while looking at «Sylvie». He didn't recognize the teen though. "You're that guy from the «Weapon Shop»."

'Ah... so that's why he knew me,' «Sylvie» thought. His avatar before all the commotion was somewhat a splitting image of his real life appearance after all. "It's good that you remember me. After all, I'm one of the best," «Sylvie» replied. He knew he shouldn't be boasting—but it was a bit embarrassing due to his former attitude towards the teen.

The teenager looked at «Sylvie» with an 'Are you serious?' face before shaking his head. "So… umm," the boy began. "Can we party now? You know… with the situation like this, it wouldn't be good to be a «soloist»."

'I have to admit he's right,' «Sylvie» thought. 'It wouldn't do if I died this early in the game.' «Sylvie» sighed. "…as a matter of fact, yes. It would be a good idea to party with you now," he replied reluctantly.

"That's great!" the boy cheered happily, "my name's «Neko» by the way! Nice to meet you." The teenager opened up Main Menu window and sent «Sylvie» the party request.

«Sylvie» accepted it and saw another hp bar below his own bar. Under the bar, the name «Neko» was shown. "Well, that's that, I suppose. What were you going to do after buying Pots?"

"Well… I can't really do much for the mean time," replied «Neko». "The good pole-arm class can't be bought or quested here at the first floor. I wanted the «Siren», which was a 'scythe' type weapon that could be quested at the second floor."

«Sylvie» nodded in understanding. "Since you're not doing much else, you can join me in my quest at the «Wolf Plains»."

"So you're doing the «Nightfall» sword quest huh?" said «Neko». "Well, sure! I'll help you out."

* * *

"Haa!"

The sound of a something hitting flesh came across «Sylvie». He glanced around the «Wolf Plains» using his «Searching» skill. What he saw fascinated him.

It was a girl with waist long dark-brown hair that moved like waves as she slashed at the «Enraged Wolf» she was battling.

«Sylvie» watched, thinking of whether or not to help the girl. It looked like she didn't need it though—as the sound of breaking glass came from the wolf.

"Wow. That girl is good," commented «Neko». "Although, what is she doing here all alone?"

"Why don't we find out?"

After asking this, «Sylvie» walked towards the girl who was breathing deeply—probably calming herself down. "Hey there, miss."

The girl turned around and her deep black eyes stared into me. "Hello…" she said meekly. "Who are you…?"

"I'm «Sylvie»," he introduced before showing his companion. "This here is «Neko»."

"Uhm… I'm «Solace»," she bowed and added, "Nice to meet you!"

"What are you doing out here, all alone?" «Neko» asked in concern.

"I was doing a quest and…" she started, "there wasn't really anyone at the «Starting City» that would help me with it… so I kinda…"

"Did it on your own, huh?" finished «Sylvie» in understanding.

«Neko» perked up. "Are you doing the «Nightfall» quest by any chance?" Seeing the girl nod, he smiled at her before offering, "Do you want to party with us then? «Sylvie» here is questing that one too. It would be faster to do it in a group."

«Solace» bowed again and thanked us as she joined the party.

* * *

Sylvie thought that Solace was a really shy and meek girl. It turned out that she wasn't as thought her out to be. She was feisty when battling and pretty intelligent for a teenager. She was also incredibly beautiful.

"You, too, are basically working hard to clear the game right?" «Neko» randomly asked.

«Solace» sobered before replying, "I want to clear the game in order to help all those people left at «Starting City»- those that don't have the will to live and fight in this world."

«Sylvie» looked at her with a smile. It looked like he found something precious to protect after all.

* * *

One month had passed.

There was still no news about the First Floor's Boss.

However, it was going to change soon enough, «Sylvie» thought. He and his party of three had continued on levelling up and gathering materials for their members. «Sylvie» knew that the first floor's boss would soon be found.

It was only a matter of time.

"Hey there," a high pitched voice greeted ending the sentence with a special nasal inflection. This person did not possess a large build and instead was one or a few heads shorter than me, but was still an incredible player. The armor, like «Neko» and «Sylvie», was full body cloth and leather. The weapon strapped on her left waist was a small claw, and on her right, were throwing nails. These were not weapons regularly used by those who reach the front lines, but this person's greatest weapon was something else.

Her grinning face has one big distinct feature. On both cheeks were three animal like whiskers drawn on with a make-up item. Matched with the curly auburn hair, her appearance reminded others of a certain rodent.

"You got any information for me?" asked «Sylvie».

"Of course I do. Today in the afternoon, in «Tolbana», the town closest to the maze, the first «First floor boss strategy conference» is supposed to be held."

The person who said this was perhaps Aincrad's first and best informant; the one known as «Argo the Rat».

"Very well, we'll go."

* * *

Since the floating castle Aincrad was made with a lot of detail, of course the first floor was the widest. The first floor was almost completely circular, with a diameter of 10 kilometers —that is, an area of about 80 square kilometers. For reference, Kawagoe City, Saitama prefecture has an area of 110 square kilometers, and a population of over 300,000 people.

For its huge size, the first floor actually held a lot of geographic variety.

On the southern edge, with a diameter of one kilometer surrounded by its half circular walls, was the «Starting City». In the grasslands surrounding the city, mainly boar- and wolf-type animals were prevalent with worm-, beetle-, and wasp-type insect monsters also inhabiting the area.

Northwest of the grassland was a deep wide forest, and northeast was the lake region. After passing through either of the two there were mountains, valleys, and ruins that contained monsters waiting to ambush passing players, and on the far northern edge of the floor, was a 300-meter wide, 100-meter tall squat tower. Here, stood the first floor maze.

In many places on the first floor other than the Starting City, many small- and medium-sized towns and villages existed. The largest of them —even then, it's only about 200 meters from edge to edge— was the town situated in the valley closest to the maze: «Tolbana».

The first time players arrived at this town lined with huge windmills was three weeks after the official service of SAO began.

At that point, the total number of deaths had actually reached 1800.

* * *

The group of three set out once «Sylvie» informed them of the meeting. The group left the forest and arrived at Tolbana's north gate.

Purple letters [INNER AREA] flowed into their views, showing that they had entered a safe town area. At that moment, the threes' shoulders relaxed, and «Sylvie» involuntarily sighed.

The group was clearly exhausted. Travelling for over 3 hours from one village to the next took its' toll.

«Sylvie» turned to the teenage boy and girl with him. "The meeting is supposed to take place in the town center, at 4pm in the afternoon."

"That's still a few hours away," complained «Solace».

«Neko» chuckled. "We can check the shops if you're that bored. I'm sure Sylvie won't mind, right?" he asked in confirmation.

"Yeah sure. Just make sure you get to the town center later on. I'll leave you two on your own," «Sylvie» went through the alley and disappeared to who knows where.

* * *

«Sylvie» looked at the «Nightfall +3 (3H)» that he held. It would really be a gamble to enhance it again, but he may need it later on at the boss battle.

The weapon enhancement system in SAO was simple compared to those of recent MMORPGs. The enhancement parameters were Sharpness, Quickness, Accuracy, Heaviness, and Durability, five bonuses which could be given to a weapon by having NPC or player smiths work on it. The parameter related material items required and the certain percentage of failure was similar to other MMORPGs.

No matter which parameter was given by enhancement, the item's name in the equipment window would have a +1 or +2 appended. However, that number's «breakdown» could only be seen when the weapon was selected, while its property window was opened. For player-to-player sales, saying an item had 'Accuracy +1, Heaviness +2' and other stats quickly became tedious. Instead, players used a shorter notation: for example, a +4 with a breakdown of Accuracy +1, Heaviness +2 and Durability +1, would be denoted by the phrase «1A2H1D». This style of notation has already become quite commonplace.

This means, Sylvie's «Nightfall +3 (3H)» was enhanced by Heaviness +3. Having an item of this quality on the first floor actually required a lot of patience and luck. Because of the situation within Aincrad, not many players train smithing skills which have no direct relation to survival rate. However, «Sylvie» was uneasy about the skill level of the NPC smith shops, even though the NPC smiths do look dwarfish.

Sighing, «Sylvie» went towards Tolbana's «Weapon Shop» to enhance his sword. Once there, he gave the «Nightfall +3 (3H)» to the NPC, along with the materials needed for enhancement.

At the sound of a hammer hitting metal, a pop-up appeared on the sword. Congratulations! You have successfully enhanced «Nightfall +4 (1A3H)».

Relief spread to «Sylvie» as he looked at his sword. «Nightfall» only had 4 enhancement attempts. His sword was already at it's maximum enhancement.

The white-painted outer walls of the windmills surrounding Tolbana town were dyed with a slight orange color from the afternoon light. The time should be a bit after 3pm. To prepare for the approaching long boss strategy conference, «Sylvie» thought he should go fill his appetite somewhere.

Sheathing the blade, «Sylvie» left the «Weapon Shop» and went to the town's «inn».

The meeting starting at 4pm would be, without a doubt, wild.

The reason was, for the first time today, one type of player that usually stayed hidden in the SAO world would show up in front of many normal players. That's right —«New Type Players» and «Experienced Beta Testers», a hard to fill void lay between them...

For «Argo the Rat» who sells anything that could be sold, there was only one type of information not in her merchandise. That was, who was originally a beta tester. Argo knew that «Sylvie» and «Neko» were both beta testers, but will never bring up this topic in conversation.

The reason was simple. When a beta tester's identity was discovered, their life could be at stake.

Not by being killed by monsters in dungeons. But while they were walking outside safe areas, new type players could «Execute» you. Because they believed the responsibility for the death count of 2000 people in the first month was under the liability of the original beta testers.

And, for «Sylvie», he could not do anything but scoff at the stupidity of human nature.

* * *

It was 4pm in the afternoon. The time the «Meeting» started. Looking around, «Sylvie» saw that players had gathered at a nearby fountain, unknown since when.

"...Where are they...?"

"Sylvie!" a girl shouted out and he heard two pairs of footsteps running towards him. «Sylvie» turned around and saw «Solace» panting when she reached him, along with «Neko» who was breathing slightly normal.

"Sorry we're a little late…." «Neko» apologized.

"It's fine. They haven't started yet," replied Sylvie. "Let's go."

* * *

44 people.

That was the total number of players gathered at Tolbana's fountain clearing.

Compared to Sylvie's predictions —that was, by his expectations, was already higher than he thought. In SAO, the maximum size of a party was 6 people, and eight times that, for a total of 48 people made up a raid group. In order to have zero deaths while killing a floor boss, it would be difficult without at least two raid groups to switch between while fighting, but these numbers could not even fill up one raid party.

"...This many..."

From behind Sylvie to his left, the heavy-sword user whispered. Sylvie turned around and said,

"Indeed. It's a surprise…"

«Neko» nodded. "Yeah. We gathered here for the first challenge against this floor's boss monster, right? Even though the chance of complete annihilation exists..."

«Sylvie» looked at the faces of the warriors gathered in threes or fives around the clearing again.

For only about five or six people, Sylvie knew their name and level, and vice versa. Those included «Argo the Rat», who was leaning against a high wall on the other side of the clearing. Additionally, around fifteen of these people were previously seen near the front line towns and dungeons. As for the remaining 20 plus people, Sylvie saw most of them for the first time. Of course, the male to female ratio was very extreme. At a quick glance, in terms of female players, there were probably only those four; the rapier user at the back, a kid that looked too serious for his own liking, Solace, and Argo...

Indeed, within the current Aincrad, no one had yet seen the first floor boss's challenge. Now on this floor, the chance of an HP gauge falling to zero —of risking death— would definitely be the highest in this large-scale battle ahead.

With a *Pan, Pan* hand-clapping sound, an elegant voice bellowed throughout the plaza.

"O—K! Now then, it's five minutes late, but let's start! Everyone, a bit more to the front... there, come three steps closer!"

The owner of the actually majestic voice was a tall, one-handed sword user with shiny metallic armor covering each of his body parts. With a running start, he jumped onto the plaza fountain's edge. Jumping that high with his armor, he must have had very high strength and dexterity.

When they saw the back-turned swordsman, several people of the forty made a commotion. I understood what they were feeling. I, too, wondered: that man standing on the edge of the fountain, how was he so handsome, to a point which should not be possible in a VRMMO? In addition, his long hair flowing down in waves on either side of his face was dyed a brilliant blue. Since hair dying items were not sold in shops on the first floor, he must have hunted for a rare monster drop or bought it.

If he went to all that trouble to customize hair style and color for this gathering, with only four female players —although one of them was in a hooded cape so no one could tell from the outside, the other one was surrounded by two protective-looking guys, a kid, while the other was «Rat»— «Sylvie» thought he must have felt some hesitation, but the man completely deflected his suspicion with a refreshing smile and said.

"Today, thank you for coming to my call! Some people here know me, but I will again introduce myself! I am «Diabel», and my profession is «Knight»!"

With that, the people around the fountain burst out with whistles and clapping, mixed with various calls like 'You really wanted to say «Hero» right!' flying out.

For SAO, the job class did not exist in the system. Each player was given a number of «Skill Slots», and could freely select from different skills and set them for training. For example, people with manufacturing or trade type skills in their main slot could be called a «Smith», «Seamstress», «Cook», or other such job titles.

But, no matter what kind of class a person he called himself, it was his own freedom. Saying that, the man named Diabel was wearing bronze armor on his chest, shoulders, arms and shins, with a large longsword on his waist to the left, and a kite shield on his back. You could say that was the right kind of equipment for a Knight.

That gallant appearance... while «Sylvie» stared at him from the right of the crowd along with his party, he searched through his memory. His equipment and hair style were different so it was hard to connect, but during this past one month Sylvie did remembered seeing him many times in the front line villages and towns. Sylvie glanced at Neko and received a nod. This player was also from the «Other Aincrad». Although, the name is different from the beta...

"Well then, about the reason I gathered you top players who are active on the very front lines, I don't think I need to say it..."

As Diabel's speech continued, «Sylvie» stopped his thoughts and concentrated on him. The blue-haired knight raised his right hand, pointed to the huge tower vaguely seen rising above the town skyline -the first floor maze— and continued.

"...Today, my party found the stairs going to the top most floor of that tower. That is, tomorrow —or, at the latest, the day after tomorrow— we will reach it: the first floor's... boss room!"

The players made a large commotion. Sylvie wasn't surprised. It was about time.

"One month. Coming this far took one month... Even so, we have to set an example. Kill the boss, and reach the 2nd floor! We have to show that this death game can be cleared to everyone waiting at the Starting City. That is the obligation of us top players here! Isn't that right, everyone!"

Again, cheers. This time, there were people clapping who were not Diabel's friends. Actually what was being said was honorable and nothing was hidden. No, it's strange to even think about anything hidden in those words. Right now, I should be like the once-divided players on the front lines and buy the Knight's story, giving him applause—

"Wait a minute, Knight-san."

At that moment, a low voice flowed out.

The cheering immediately stopped, and the front of the crowd split into two. At the center of the emptied space was a somewhat short and stockily built man. He had some kind of pointed, cactus-styled brown hair.

Taking one step forward, the cactus head growled in a deep, gravelly voice that was the opposite of Diabel's beautiful voice.

"Before that, there is one thing that must be cleared up; otherwise I cannot join you."

Diabel's eyes became small for an instant, but soon returned to full smiles and said while beckoning.

"Opinions are certainly very welcome. But, if you are going to speak, you should tell us your name."

"...Hum."

Cactus head gave a huge snort, then stepped forward. When he reached the fountain, he turned around to face us.

"I am «Kibaou»."

The cactus head swordsman who introduced himself with a somewhat daring character name looked at all the players in the plaza with his small but sharp, bright eyes.

His sweeping look stopped for just an instant on a guy at the back, but continued on. After taking plenty of time to look at everyone once, Kibaou eventually said in a threatening tone of voice.

"In this group, about 5 or 10 people need to apologize."

"Apologize? To whom?"

The knight that was still standing behind him on the fountain edge, Diabel, raised both hands in question. Without looking at him, Kibaou spat out in hatred.

"Ha, isn't it obvious. To the 2000 now dead people. Those guys had a monopoly on everything, and so 2000 people died in one month! Isn't that right?!"

At that moment, the low buzzing in the forty people audience was cut short; all went silent. What Kibaou insinuated, everyone finally understood. Sylvie's party included, of course.

In the oppressive silence, only the evening BGM from the NPC orchestra played quietly. No one said anything. If anything was said, then at that moment you might be labeled as one of «those guys» —probably such a fear existed. No, not probably. At the very least, Sylvie was caught by irritation…

"—Kibaou-san. Your «those guys» are... the original beta testers, right?"

Diabel with his arms crossed, showed the most stern look up till now as he asked for confirmation.

"Obviously."

With the thick metal pieces of his scale mail clinking over the leather he wore, Kibaou took a glance at the knight behind him and continued.

"Those beta testers, on the day this shitty game started, dashed from the Starting City and disappeared. They left behind over 9000 people who didn't know left from right. They monopolized good hunting grounds and profitable quests, got stronger without a care for those behind. ...There should be some in this group, hiding their beta status, some sly people thinking of joining the boss fight. I want them to kneel down once, to the party members their lives depend on. That's what I want to say!"

Like his name, he cut off his condemnation with a snap of his teeth. Still, no one said anything. As a member of the original beta tester group, «Sylvie» and «Neko» gritted their teeth and remained silent.

It was tempting to shout a retort such as, 'The original beta testers, do you think that none of them died?'

Prior knowledge and experience did not always mean safety!

"May I speak?"

At that time, a rich and forceful baritone resounded in the evening plaza. I returned from my thoughts and raised my head. From the left side of the crowd, a silhouette moved forward.

Huge. His height probably was easily over 180cm. An avatar's size was said not to have any effect on his stats, but the two-handed battle-axe slung over his back certainly appeared lightweight to him.

His appearance, too, was impressive and did not lose to his weapon. A fully bald head, and chocolate-colored skin. However, the chiseled face which was not Japanese fit so well you might think it was customized. Instead, you could think maybe he was not even a player.

The muscular giant moved forward to the fountain, lightly bowed to the other players, and then turned to the dramatically different statured Kibaou.

"My name is Agil. Kibaou-san, what you want to say is that many beginners died because original beta testers did not take care of them, and you want them to accept that responsibility and apologize, isn't that correct?"

"Th...That's right."

Kibaou, momentarily overwhelmed, took a step back, but soon returned forward. With his shiny, small eyes glaring at the axe user called Agil, he shouted.

"If they did not leave us behind, 2000 people would not have died! However, they were not just any 2000 people, most of them were top ranks or veterans from other MMO's! If those shitty testers properly shared information, items and money, then there would have been 10 times the people here... no, by now we would have broken through the 2nd or 3rd floor!"

Right now, about four to five hundred remaining original testers were mixed hazardously with new participants. Level and equipment-wise, they could no longer be said to stand out. In this situation, if Sylvie or Neko showed themselves as original testers, a dangerous witch hunt might happen instead of improving contact between players. At worst, they may even hunt down «Solace» who wasn't even in the beta test, just because she was with them in the party. They've already talked about the issue among their party.

The reason was, for SAO, player attacks were allowed in fields and dungeons, such as the «Outer Area»...

"That's what you say, Kibaou-san. I don't know about the money and items, but I believe you mentioned information?"

Agil the axe warrior again responded in his wonderful baritone. From the huge pouch on his muscled, leather armor-covered waist, he took out a simple sheepskin bound compendium. The cover had round ears and three whiskers stylized with a «Rat Mark».

"This guidebook, you got it too right. Freely distributed from the item shops in Horunka and Medai."

That «Rat» —she was such a devilish merchant that she would sell her own stats if that would make money. But, freely distribute information? It wasn't possible! «Sylvie» shifted his gaze; the stone wall Argo was quietly sitting on a few minutes earlier was empty. The next time he met her, «Sylvie» wanted to ask for the reason why, but somehow he could already see her answer: "That information is 1000 col".

"—Got it. What about it?"

Kibaou's sharp voice interrupted my thought process. Agil put his strategy guide back in his pouch, and said with arms crossed.

"This guide, whenever I reach a new village or town, is always found in the item shop. It's the same for you right. The information is too fast, don't you think?"

"So what if it is too early!?"

"The ones who provided the information on monsters and map data in this, cannot be anyone other than the original beta testers."

All the players went abuzz. Kibaou closed his mouth sharply, and the knight Diabel behind him nodded in a 'I see' way.

Once all eyes were again directed on Agil, he said with his well carrying baritone.

"You see, there is information. Regardless, a lot of players died. That reason is _because_ they were veteran MMO players, I think. They measured the similarity of SAO to those other games, and missed the point of difference. But, right now is not the time to be going after who is responsible. That we become those or not, and how that influences this meeting, is what I think."

* * *

The two-handed axe user Agil possessed a very imposing attitude, and his argument was also extremely blunt, so that Kibaou could only stand in the shadows in silence. If anyone else other than Agil claimed the same thing, then Kibaou would probably counter with 'Saying that means you are an original beta tester'. But, right now, all he could do was glare at the giant in hatred.

Behind the two silently confronting each other, Diabel, still standing on the fountain's edge, his long hair dyed purple from the evening sun, waved as he nodded once more.

"Kibaou-san, I can understand your point. I, too, went into unknown territories, and finally arrived here after many near deaths. But, like this Agil-san said, isn't it now time to look forward? Even original beta testers... no, especially original testers, we need their fighting strength for this boss strategy. If we removed them, and that resulted in the attack failing, what would be the point?"

Many in the audience deeply nodded. Sylvie felt the atmosphere change from 'condemning original testers', and he involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief, then listened to Diabel's continuing speech.

"Everyone, you each have your own preferences, but right now, I would like you to work together to break through the first floor. If there are people who will not fight with original testers no matter what, then it is unfortunate, but you are free to leave. For a boss fight, teamwork is the most important."

The knight's gaze swept across everyone, and finally stopped at Kibaou. The cactus head swordsman made a huge snort then spat out these words.

"...Fine, I will listen to you for now. But I want it to be clear, black and white, only until after the boss fight is finished."

With his scale mail clinking, Kibaou retreated from in front of the group. The axe user Agil too, spread his arms showing that he had nothing more to say, and returned to his previous place.

Ultimately, that was the highlight of this first meeting. Because, even if we wanted to discuss the details of boss strategy, we had only arrived at the top floor of the maze. In a situation where no one had seen the boss's face, a strategy could not be made...

—No, the truth was a little different. Because Sylvie and Neko knew that Aincrad's first floor boss was a super sized Kobold, its weapon was a huge Talwar, and once engaged, 12 heavily armored royal guards would spawn.

However, their knowledge was from the old Aincrad. When the official service began, there was a chance that the boss might be completely, or just in some small detail, changed. If the strategy was based on information from the beta, then when the fight with the boss happens, if its appearance or attack pattern was different... or if something unexpected happened, then the raiders could be annihilated due to the confusion. What it comes down to is, until the boss room door is opened and its inhabitant appears, nothing could be assumed.

At the end of the meeting, the knight Diabel raised his straight forward voice, and let out a huge roar to the participants. Sylvie's party didn't join in and merely watched them.

* * *

Although the meeting was without any actual discussion, it seemed to have boosted the players morale, and the 20th floor of the first floor maze was mapped in a never before seen speed. The afternoon of the day after the meeting —Saturday, December 3rd— the first party (Diabel's party of six again), discovered huge double doors deep within the maze. Their cheers reached Sylvie, Neko, and Solace fighting nearby with a group of «Kobolds».

Diabel's group bravely opened the boss room door, and saw the inhabitant's face. On the evening of that day, at another meeting in Tolbana's fountain plaza, the blue hair knight reported back.

The boss was a huge Kobold, 2 meters in height. Its name was «Illfang the Kobold Lord», and its weapon was of the scimitar category. Once engaged in combat, three metal armored, halberd wielding «Ruin Kobold Sentinels» appeared—

The information up until there was exactly the same as in the beta. Brainstorming with Neko, Sylvie and him recalled the specifics of the boss. The «Sentinels» would reappear when the boss lost one of its four HP bars, with 12 in total which must be killed.

At the open air NPC stall shop near the plaza, an item was for sale since who knows when. «That thing» was made up of three bound sheep skin pages so instead of a book, it was just a pamphlet titled 'Argo's Strategy Guide: First Floor Boss edition'. The price was 0 col from the start.

Of course the meeting was paused for a while as everyone bought (or more like got) the guide from the NPC, and started reading.

As usual, there was an impressive amount of information. From the recently known boss name to its estimated HP, main weapon of a Talwar and its sword speed, damage amount, to sword skills, this information filled up three pages. The fourth page explained the facts about the «Sentinels»; there it was clearly written that it will pop four times, up to a total of 12.

And also, on the cover of the guide, a line that had not existed on any «Argo Strategy Guide» until now, in a bright red font it said—

[This information is from the time of the SAO beta test. It is possible the current version might be different.]

This red warning line might have destroyed Argo's current status —«Just an informant selling information obtained from beta testers no one knew». Almost everyone reading this, would begin to wonder whether Argo herself was a original tester or not. Of course there was no proof, but later, if the feud between new players and original testers expanded to more than it was now, there was no doubt the danger of her being hanged would increase.

On the other hand, this strategy guide, would surely avoid some troublesome and dangerous scouting battles. The forty people who read that, looked at the blue hair knight standing on the fountain's edge like yesterday as if to let their leader decide how to react.

Diabel seemed to lower his head in deep thought for tens of seconds, and then eventually stood up straight and shouted.

"—Everyone, right now, let's be thankful for this information!"

The audience was immersed in a buzz. That speech, instead of choosing confrontation with original testers, chose reconciliation. Sylvie readied his «Nightfall +4 (1A3H)» if Kibaou would again jump out growling, but the brown cactus head near the front of the crowd was standing still now.

"Aside from the source, thanks to this guide, we can skip two of three days of scouting battles. Actually, I think this is very beneficial. Because, the most deaths will probably be from scouting battles."

Here and there in the plaza, different colored heads nodded.

"...If this is true, the boss's numerical stats are not all that bad. If SAO was a normal MMO, then with everyone over an average of three... no, level five, should be ample to kill it, I think. So, if we polish our tactics correctly, bring a lot of POTs to the fight, it's possible we can kill it without any deaths. No, sorry, not that. Absolutely zero deaths. That, I promise you in the name of the knight!"

Loud clapping continued as 'Yo, knight-sama!' and other sounds came flying. Diabel was someone with good leadership, even this soloist had to accept this. Guilds could not be made until the third floor, but at that time an impressive conquest guild would probably be made...

"—Then, it's a bit fast, but I am thinking of starting the actual strategy meeting now! Anyway, if we don't make a raid party, we cannot split up our duties. Everyone, first make a party with friends or people near you!"

In SAO, one party was 6 people, there are 44 people here so... 7 parties plus 2 people left over. We had 3 people in our party—it meant we needed 3 more to fill the gap.

A gray-haired teenager walked up to Sylvie's party and asked to join. His weapon was a rapier and told us his name was «Mardi».

A long haired girl approached the party. "The leader told us to party… so… only for this raid, I will join," the girl said. She couldn't be older than 10! "My name is «Rinshan». Pleased to meet you."

Lastly, a light blue haired teenager from their right shouted, "What do you mean I can't join your party?"

"For the last time, kid. We're full! Go find the other parties that have slots!"

"Argh… what is it with these adults," he said before sighing. Looking around, the teen spotted «Neko» who was talking to a cute little girl. Approaching us, he asked, "Can I join your party?"

"Yes," Solace replied before Sylvie could refute her. She knew this boy could help them on the party. Specially since he was also a two-handed straight sword user as well. He introduced himself as «Lanris».

In under one minute after Diabel's directive, seven 6-person parties and a 2-person party were quickly formed. They understood the knight wanted to make 6 person parties.

* * *

The knight Diabel's command ability, not just with speech, was also pretty good in the finer details too.

He checked over the seven 6 person parties, and with the smallest number of switches, made seven parties with different purposes. Two heavy armor Tank parties. Three high movement and high attack Assault parties. Two long weapon equipped Support parties.

The two tank parties will maintain and exchange being the boss's target. Two assault parties will concentrate on the boss, while the other one will kill the guards first. The support parties mostly using long weapons will primarily use the Delay skill, if possible to interrupt either the boss or guards' attacks.

Of course, Sylvie's party was assigned to be an assault party, Group D.

* * *

The second boss strategy conference was over after a short talk between group leaders assigned letters A to G, and setting up how to share boss drop col and items. The axe user giant Agil was Tank group B leader, and Kibaou who had burning enmity towards original beta testers is High movement group E leader. Sylvie was Assault group D leader that dealt with attacking the boss.

For drop sharing, col will be automatically divided evenly between the 44 raid members, items will belong to the person who get them is the kind of simple rule to be used. In recent MMO, normally a system exists where a person who wants an item will dice roll for it, but somehow SAO used the previous era's method like randomly dropping the item in a player's storage, without anyone else knowing too. That means if a «Boss drop item to be dice rolled» kind of rule is set, then the person with the actual item has to report it.

Diabel, probably to prevent that kind of development, used the «Drop to person» rule. That is a perceptive knight.

At 5:30pm in the afternoon, similar messages to yesterday completed the meeting 'Let's work hard!' and 'Yea—!', then groups split into threes and fives, disappearing inside bars and restaurants.

"So then—" Solace clapped her hands together and looked at their new party members. "As you can see from the party hp bars, my name is «Solace». I'm a heavy hitter type with minimal defence at this moment of time."

«Neko» whistled and introduced himself. "I'm «Neko»! You could call me the jester of this group, I suppose. I'm a «scythe» type user… however, the first floor doesn't have any scythe yet. So I'll be using the basic pole arms from the shops around."

All eyes turned to Sylvie, causing him so sigh. "My name is «Sylvie». I'm a heavy hitter that could sub as a tanker."

An awkward silence came after that.

"Well, I'm mostly a tanker at the moment," said «Lanris» when he saw that Sylvie wasn't going to say anything else. "I don't have much STR for the meantime due to… you know—the current situation regarding death."

"It's understandable," commented «Rinshan» with a serious voice. How can a child emit such a serious persona? "Anyone would have panicked with the current situation. At any rate—I am a close range specialist using spear. My long range ability with it is abysmal at the moment."

"…." The last member of the party was silent as he observed them. It unnerved Solace slightly, but asked about him. "Mardi. Close range specialist, rapier type."

Sylvie looked at his party members and nodded. "Let's meet up tomorrow at 10. Do not be late."

* * *

Fourth December, Sunday, 10 a.m.

This Death Game started at one o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday, on the sixth of November. In three hours, it would be exactly four weeks since it started.

It has been four weeks since this dreadful situation happened, and we haven't even reached the second floor.

Based on today's assault against the boss, we could estimate the time until our release. Forty-four players were now gathered at the Fountain Square in Tolbana. It could be considered to be the strongest fighting force we could have hoped for at this point.

If by some chance, this raid party was wiped out, no, even with its partial destruction, rumor would quickly spread to the Starting City. The resignation that «SAO is impossible to clear» would spread throughout the first floor. Reorganizing a second force would take an impossibly long time — or, it might be impossible to face the boss a second time. Even if we wanted to increase our level in order to challenge the boss again, we had already reached the upper limit of efficiency to gain experience from the monsters of the the first floor.

Everything depended on whether the Boss Monster «Illfang the Kobold Lord»'s strength had changed from the Beta Test version. The Kobold King in my memories could easily be defeated by this number of people, with their skill, level and equipment, with zero deaths. After that would be, as the circumstances involves our lives, can we remain calm until the end...

«Sylvie» looked at his party-mates. He couldn't help but smile inside. It was nice to lead a group once in a while.

The blue haired knight Diabel stood in front of at the edge of the fountain, raising the familiar beautiful voice of his and said,

"Everyone, although it may be sudden ―― Thank you all, I am really grateful that all forty-four of the party members have gathered, without a single missing person."

After talking, a loud cheer of *OH* shook up the entire square. It was followed by a waterfall-like applause.

After smiling at everyone, the knight pumped his right fist, and continued shouting loudly,

"Now I will say, I was actually thinking of aborting this mission if a single person didn't turn up! But... this kind of worry, is an insult to everyone. I'm very happy that... the best raid party... well, even if the number of people is not enough!"

A few people laughed and whistled, and some people pumped their right hands mimicking to him.

"There's too much excitement," Sylvie muttered. Excessive tension could lead to a fear-like poison, but over-excitement could also have bad effects, like being careless.

"Indeed…" agreed Neko. During the beta testing period, being defeated for being over enthusiastic was like a joke, but here, failure could lead to the death of a player. In this situation, it would be a good thing for the players to be less excessively excited.

At least- Group B's leader Agil, the two-handed axe wielder and several other people, all had stern expressions and their arms folded in front of them. At critical moments, they would be reliable. Kibaou of group E had overconfident expressions, they would likely die. There was also that support group with 2 members only. Sylvie knew he could trust them. Considering he remembered that black haired one-hand sword user from the beta test.

As everyone yelled about, Diabel raised both hands to suppress the cheering.

"Everyone... What I want to say now is this!"

His right hand moved to his left hip, and he pulled out his silvery sword with a loud sound――

"...Let's win!"

* * *

11.00 a.m, we moved to the labyrinth.

12.30 p.m, we walked to the top floor.

So far, there were no deaths. After all, a near forty-eight people «Full Raid» party marched, and for a majority of the people here this was their first experience. In this world, «First» was an action that had the risk of an accident and was dangerous, with no exceptions.

In fact, there were three situations which were really scary. The people wielding long weapons such as «Spear» and «Halberd», mostly in the Group F and G, were ambushed by the melee type Kobolds along the road. In SAO, melee weapons will not harm players if they are swung by accident (of course, this is not equal to a criminal act), and sword skills that come into contact with an obstacle are also stopped. Ranged weapons were already at high risk from this, and the melee ambush made the situation even worse.

In such a situation, the knight Diabel showed his ability to command precisely. As a leader of the forces, he made bold decisions, like staying to fight while getting others to retreat, using heavy amounts of sword skills to knock back the monsters, and switching between long and melee weapon equipped members. These decisions could only be made if he was familiar with being a leader.

Diabel had his own philosophy about his leadership, _trusting him fully is every raid member's duty_ was the reason everyone reached this point.

――After recognizing this, two huge doors stood in front of our eyes, and those in the rear had to stand on tiptoe to look up at them.

On the surface of the grey stone, was a relief of a terrifying beast-headed monster. Speaking of Kobolds, in most other MMO games these mobs were usually the weakest of the weak, but in SAO this «Demi-Human» class of humanoid beings were formidable foes. It had the ability to wield weapons such as swords and axes, and could even use sword skills. Compared to a normal attack, it had much higher speed, power, and even had hit correction properties. If a player was caught in a defenseless position, even its elementary skill could cause a critical hit, and reduce the HP gauge drastically.

"Alright, listen up," said «Sylvie», causing the entire party to look at him, "We're targeting the boss from the right side." He looked at each of his party members, "Remember our «switch» rotation and always be cautious. If someone gets into yellow zone, «switch» out and take POTs. I don't want anyone in my party to die."

"Yes!" the party replied in seriousness.

Diabel had finished preparing the lineup of the seven parties.

Not even the knight dared to shout "Let's win!" in this place. This was because humanoid monsters would react to loud noises here.

Instead, Diabel lifted his silver long sword up high, and gave a large nod. The forty-three raid members also raised their weapons and nodded in reply.

His green long hair fluttered as he turned around, the knight placed his left hand in the middle of the large doors――

"――――Let's go!"

With a short cry, he pushed the doors open with all his might.

* * *

_Was it this wide?_

Looking at the boss room of the first floor for the first time in around four months, this was the first impression that «Sylvie» had.

The room was very deep. Its width from the left to the right wall was about twenty meters. Plus it was quite rectangular. There was a distance of about one hundred meters from the entrance to the back. The size of floor was roughly the same as the other 20 floors, and the room was the last one to be mapped. Therefore, its area could be estimated from the blank area on the map. However, seeing it with our eyes made it feel deeper than it actually was.

This room was spacious in order to contain the gigantic monsters here.

In Aincrad's boss room, the doors would not close even during battle against the boss. Therefore, even if the events took a turn for the worse and we were in danger of being annihilated, we had the option to retreat. However, if we turned and fled and the enemy's long ranged sword skill hit us, it might slow us down, «delay», or prevent us from moving, «stun». So, we would have to retreat while facing the boss, but in that situation, the critical hundred meters needed to escape would feel infinitely long. Instantaneous teleportation was possible using «Teleport Crystal», however it was expensive and obtainable only in the higher floors, which would make retreating from bosses on higher floors easier, but because it was so expensive, after the retreat, the player could be left with a near-empty wallet.

The boss room sank into almost complete darkness. On the walls to the left and right of the room, *ping* *ping*, from the front of the room to its back, «torches» were lit one by one. The crude torches noisily blazed.

With the sources of light generated, the «Gamma» also increased. The stone floor and walls were filled with cracks. Large and small skulls were variously placed to decorate the place. In the deepest part of the room stood a huge throne, and a rough silhouette of something large sat on it.

The knight, Diabel, raised his long sword, and swung it down in front of him...

At his signal, the forty-four members of the boss monster hunting forces raised a battle cry while rushing into the room like an avalanche.

* * *

The front row rushed in first, led by Group A's leader equipped with an iron heater shield, with his «Hammer» lifted up high. They were followed by Group B to its left, led by the Axe warrior Agil, and to its right, Diabel and his five friends' Group C. Sylvie's group, D, was behind group A, and behind these three groups, were Group E led by Kibaou, the long stick «Polearm» equipped Group F and Group G, running in parallel. And even further behind them, were the two extra people—

When the distance between Group A and the throne was about 20 meters, the gigantic silhouette which had not moved initially suddenly jumped. In the air, it spun around once, before landing on the ground, causing the earth to rumble. After that, it opened its wolf-like jaws, and howled.

"Gurururaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The demi-human King, «Illfang the Kobold Lord», looked exactly as «Sylvie» remembered. Its muscular body over two meters tall, covered in blue-gray fur. Its bloodthirsty eyes flashed a golden red. Its right hand wielded an axe made of bone, while its left had a Leather Buckler equipped. Behind its waist, a meter and half long «Talwar» stuck out.

The Kobold Lord raised the Bone Axe in its right hand up high, and struck it forcefully at Group A's leader. The heater shield received the blow, causing a dazzling light effect and a loud sound to reverberate within the hall.

As if that sound was a signal, out of various holes located high up on the side walls, three heavily armed monsters jumped down. These were the guards, «Ruin Kobold Sentinel». Group E led by Kibaou, and the supporting Group G, quickly moved towards the three, locking onto their target.

Just like this, on the fourth of December at 2.40p.m, the first boss battle finally started.

«Illfang»'s HP gauge had four bars. During the first three bars, it would hold its Bone Axe in its right hand and its Leather Buckler in its left, but on the fourth, it would discard them and remove the Talwar off its waist. Its attack patterns would change completely, was what Argo's strategy guide had described. After its weapons changed from the Bone Axe to the Talwar, our sword skills and tactics had to change accordingly, just as what was discussed in the meeting yesterday.

«Sylvie» swung the shining broad sword «Nightfall» and initiated the skill «Avalanche» at Illfang. After the skill connected, he called out, "«Switch»!"

«Rinshan» came rushing in with her spear and did a «Pierce» skill at the boss. "«Switch»!"

«Solace» charged in and swung her sword at the boss "Ei!" her sword flashed yellow before it hit the monster,"Switch!"

«Mardi» activated his skill «Linear» and stabbed at the boss three times before calling out "…switch"

Running forward and jumping, «Neko» swung his polearm downward with the skill «Pound» and called out the switch.

«Lanris» swiped his sword as it glowed a bluish hue and hit the boss, waiting for «Sylvie» to call out a switch. He knew his job was to allow the other party members' cooldowns to finish and hold the boss off for a while.

This continued on for a while. The «Tank» forces and the «Attacker» forces calmly switched places for 'pot' rotation. The left edge of their sight displayed a small window of raid party's average HP gauge, and it remained stable above 80 percent for all the parties.

* * *

The battle was going steadily fast.

Diabel and the rest of Group C had reduced the first HP gauge, Sylvie and the rest of Group D had removed the second layer, and now Group F and G had reduced its third layer by half. Until this point, Group A and B, the «Tank» teams, had their HP in the yellow «Half» region, but never entered the dangerous red region. There were also a few guards, which were left to Group E and the two extras, which had performed so well that sometime in the midst of battle, Group G moved to support the main battlefield.

"Yosh!" «Neko» called out. "We're at the last gauge!"

Instead of waiting for their full recovery, Group C and D rushed in to press the attack. The party leader was the commander of the raid itself, the blue haired knight Diabel. Even in the dim light of the dungeon, his blue hair glittered brilliantly.

"Uguruooooooooooooo――――!"

«Illfang the Kobold Lord» gave out a loud roar. At the same time, the final wave of three «Ruin Kobold Sentinel» jumped out of holes in the walls.

The raid party looked at the boss in determination. «Sylvie» looked at his party before staring at the boss.

At that moment――

The Kobold king, with the bone axe in its right hand and the leather shield in its left, threw both down onto the ground simultaneously, gave another roar, brought its hand to the back of its waist, grasped the rag bound handle and pulled out the «Talwar».

During the beta testing period, «Sylvie» saw this motion pattern change many times. From here on, it would only use the sword skills from the curved blade category, going into the berserk condition, becoming terribly wild, but dealing with it now is easier than before. It used a long-ranged longitudinal cut. As long as you grasped the timing of the skill when it was launched, even if you're near the boss you could avoid the edge of the weapon.

Under Diabel's command, the six people that formed Group C surrounded the boss. This was a formation that was not used while the boss still wielded the bone axe. As long as the six could avoid the wild swings of the Talwar until the final blow...

Illfang roared and howled, then it slowly moved the blade in its right hand up high...

"…Wha...?" Sylvie muttered unconsciously.

Something is different. The boss monster and the Kobold king that «Sylvie» knew were not the same. It was not its color, nor its size. It was more than the looks and the sound. The source of discomfort, rather than its body... it was the weapon in its right hand.

Isn't that blade too thin? The gently warped blade was certainly similar to the one he was familiar with during the beta test period, but its width... as well as its sparkle, was different. It was not the rough texture of cast iron. It was forged, and its edges had the tint of steel.

"Thi... this won't do, fall back! Retreat quickly――――!" a shout came from the back of the groups. «Sylvie» looked behind and saw the black haired swordsman that he knew was a beta tester as well.

Instinctively, Sylvie grabbed the nearest party member to him—Rinshan—and pushed her away as Illfang's sword skill activated.

The Kobold king's huge body shook the floor, as it jumped up high. It turned its body in mid-air, while accumulating power to its weapon. As it fell down, it used the accumulated power, releasing a crimson beam of light.

Plane of attack――horizontal. Angle of attack――three hundred and sixty degrees.

Sword skill for katanas, the heavy ranged attack "whirling wheel" «Tsumujiguruma».

* * *

Six bright red light effects appeared, like pillars of blood.

The HP gauge that appeared at the left corner showing Group C's and some of Group D's average HP on the left immediately dropped below fifty percent and into the yellow zone. Although you could expand the gauge with your fingertips in order to see the six individual HP gauges of each player, at the moment there was no point in doing it. Everyone in range obviously received equal amounts of damage.

It was a ranged attack with tremendous power enough to take out more than half of the full HP, and that was not all. Yellow lights rotated around the heads of eight people that had collapsed on the floor, indicating that they were unable to move for a period time ―― this was the stun effect.

There were a large variety of bad status in SAO, and the worst of it weren't paralysis or blindness. Their effect lasted at most ten seconds. However, once the effect started, there was no way to recover from it. Therefore, if the front members were stunned, their friends must save them by diving in front without waiting for the switch, and must become the target to draw enemy fire ――

Not a single person moved to help. Despite carefully planning for the fight during the meeting, followed by the march forward in a mood under the impression of an easy victory. Also, the person everyone relied on, their leader Diabel, had been struck down in a single blow. For these various reasons, aside from Group C, everyone was bound to the spot rigidly. After the stranded silence, the Kobold Lord recovered from the long delay caused by using its skill.

As everyone recovered, I gave out a loud shout.

"Chasing..."

As «Sylvie» and «Neko» who were at the front were still stunned, «Lanris» and the remaining members of Group D moved in and attacked the boss.

At the same time, the two handed axe user Agil and several of his subordinates moved in to support the others.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

"Uguruo!"

The demi human roared, and the katana―― no, nodachi in both its hands was lifted off the cut floor and raised up high. Sword skill _Floating Boat _«Ukifune». It was aimed for the Knight that had fell right in front of it, Diabel. As if pulled by a red arc of light, the knight in silver armor was sent flying up high. The damage wasn't very high. However, the Kobold Lord's movement didn't stop there.

Using its large wolf-like mouth, it grinned and laughed ferociously.

The nodachi was once again wrapped in a red light effect. «Ukifune» was merely the start of the combo. If you were hit by this while in the air, it was useless to struggle, you could only defend by curling up. However, it was impossible for a person who was dealing with the situation for the first time.

While in the sky, Diabel brandished his sword, trying to pull off a sword skill to counterattack. However, because he was unstable, the system could not determine the starting motion for the skill. The nodachi directly hit the front of the knight who waved his sword uselessly.

At a speed which could not be seen, an upward attack, continued by a downward one. It was followed up by a thrust. A three hit strike, this skill's name is _Scarlet Fan_, «Hiōgi».

The knight's body was covered in three continuous damage effect, the bright colours and strong sounds showed that all the attacks were critical hits. His _virtual body_«Avatar» was blown twenty meters away, over the heads of the raid members, and ended up near a Sentinel. He fell almost as if piercing the ground. His HP gauge, which was already red, began to reduce further.

"...!"

The black haired swordsman did the skill «Slant» as the Sentinel's Long Axe approached. The Axe's handle was smashed in the middle, and as it stood stunned for a short duration, his party member's rapier found its throat and pierced it.

Not waiting for the monster's shattering effect to happen, the swordsman turned towards the body of the fallen Diabel. After reaching him though… it was already too late. Diabel's hp continued going down.

The commander of the Aincrad Boss Raid Forces, the Knight Diabel, turned into blue shards of glass which shattered and scattered.

* * *

Uwaaaaa, this kind of cry ―― this scream filled the Boss room.

Nearly all the raid members clutched and hung on to their weapons, with their wide eyes open. But no one moved. The leader being first to fall, to die, was an unpleasant situation no one had prepared for, so no one knew the next course of action.

Of course, this was also true for «Lanris» who was still holding the boss' agro. In his mind, he kept on thinking of what to do—to continue fighting or to flee. It looked like the stun status on «Sylvie» and «Neko» would wear out soon.

In normal circumstances, «Boss uses weapons and skills different to information previously given» and «Loss of leader», suffering from two disasters, everyone should immediately retreat out of the boss's room. However, if our backs were exposed to Illfang while we retreated, he could easily use his long ranged Katana Skill, the ten people furthest to the back, in the worst case, would end up stunned and deprived of all HP by a sequence of attacks like Diabel. That is to say, even as we retreat we must defend our bodies, but our opponent was difficult as he had unknown skills. Compared to the time taken to dash out of the room, the same degree of HP decrease leading to deaths could be expected.

Above it all, with too many deaths ―― including the leader ―― and the boss strategy that was issued failed, it would be difficult to assemble another force to raid the boss again. In other words, all attempts to clear the death game SAO would lead to failure. The eight thousand survivors, would not be warriors of the virtual world, but prisoners trapped in the first floor until there is an some kind of «end»...

At this time, the sound of Illfang, who had come out of its delay took Lanris' attention.

* * *

Some players were in complete panic, hesitating to escape, if this went on the formation would fall in a few seconds.

The first thing was to calm them out of their panicked state. However, in this situation, the noise drowned out all instructions given

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING!?" shouted «Sylvie» who was finally out of the stunned state.

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"ARE YOU GOING TO LET DIABEL'S SACRIFICE GO IN VAIN?" he continued. This seemed to spur everyone out of their daze and they looked at the boss.

Even the panicking players became silent with the shine in their eyes. Not letting this miraculous moment of silence go to waste, the black haired swordsman called out with the loudest voice he could muster,

"Everyone, back ten steps towards the exit! As long as the boss is not surrounded, it will not use its ranged attacks."

By the time the echo of his voice disappeared, the players were steadily backing away together. As if to chase us, the Kobold king turned to face the black haired swordsman- «Kirito», Sylvie finally remembered the boy's name- and his party member, who were running to meet it.

"Asuna, this battle will be similar to the Sentinel's!... Move!"

The moment her name was called, the rapier user glanced at Kirito, then faced the front again almost immediately.

"Understood!"

In front of them, the Kobold king's left hand left the Nodachi that both hands were previously holding, lowering his stance. That motion, was ――

"...!"

Kirito held his breath, and started to use his own sword skill. He used the basic sword rush technique, «Rage Spike».

At the same time, the boss was poised with a Nodachi glowing a green flash, and slashed at a speed which could not be seen. Straight long ranged move, _Whirlwind_ «Tsujikaze». Because it was an Iai type move, it would be impossible to keep up with it after seeing it launched.

"U... ooo!"

With a roar, the trajectory of Kirito's sword came from the left, intersecting with Illfang's Nodachi's trajectory. A loud metallic sound rang out and many sparks were formed, as the boss and Kirito were knocked back more than two meters from the recoil of each other's sword.

At the opportunity that was produced―― Asuna seized it at a remarkable speed equal to mine.

"Yaaaaa!"

With short and sharp fervor she used «Linear», stabbing deep into the Kobold king's right flank. The fourth HP gauge, slightly, but surely decreased in width.

"Amazing…" said «Solace» in awe. Their party was at the side as they were recovering from the damage they took a while ago.

«Sylvie» nodded in agreement. The Illfang during the beta period which was equipped with «Talwar»'s sword skills, was impossible to counter using sword skills. However, perhaps the Katana-type sword skills were lighter than the Talwar's, as the swordsman's HP gauge did not decrease because of the clash. Instead, the speed of the technique was not as terrible as it was supposed to be.

* * *

"Cra...!"

The black haired swordsman cursed as Illfang's skill hit him and was unable to move.

"Ah...!"

As the rapier user by his side gave out a small scream, the nodachi from below jumped up, catching the front of Kirito's body.

His body was paralyzed, and the HP gauge was reduced by thirty percent.

As he was blown away and barely remained on his knees, the rapier user rushed towards the Kobold king. Kirito screamed "Don't!" «Phantom Moon» had a very short delay. Its blade was raised, and glowed red. Not good, this was the three hit skill that killed Diabel, _Scarlet Fan_ «Hiōgi» ...

"Nu...oooo!"

As it roared loudly, its blade was about to hit her.

As the blade grazed her head, a huge weapon glowed green as it launched its skill. Two-Handed Axe Sword Skill «Whirlwind»――

The Nodachi had shot first, but it was a two handed axe that rotated like a whirlwind which intercepted it. The boss's room trembled at the impact that was born, Illfang was knocked back quite a distance. The attacker must have had both legs wrapped in leather sandals, as he only slid back a meter or so.

Entering the fray, was a brown skinned giant and Group B leader, Agil. Kirito explored his coat pockets while kneeling on the floor as Agil looked over his shoulders at him, smiling.

"You can drink your pot until it finishes, we'll support you. Damage dealers are the walls, this will not change."

"...Sorry, I leave it to you."

Agil was not the only person who came to the front. His friends and, a few people from Group A and D who had finished recovering as their wounds were light.

«Sylvie» commanded his party and told them to do it as they had before, only faster.

"If the boss is surrounded from the back it will use an omni-directional attack! I will be calling out the trajectory of the attacks, so the guys in front, deal with them! You don't have to unreasonably try to cancel it with sword skills, you can avoid large damage just by blocking it with a weapon and a shield properly!" Kirito called out from the back.

"Ou!" the men and women replied as they followed Kirito's instructions.

* * *

The boss's weapon had changed, and sure enough, along with it, the number of spawns «Pop» of the Ruin Kobold Sentinels had also increased. Kibaou's Group E, as well as the lightly damaged pole-arm equipped Group G, took on all four of the heavily armored guards at the same time. Although they did not take much damage, as long as Illfang remained alive, those four Sentinels would probably jump out of the hole in the wall regularly. The parties resisting them would eventually reach their limits with just the two of them.

In addition to that, in between the front and the rear groups, Group C who were the first to get heavily damaged, were trying to recover their HP like me. However, potions in this game were really frustrating items, having only a slow, continuous healing, «Heal Over Time» effect... in other words, drinking the bottle would not instantly recover the gauge, increasing gradually in dots instead, and when drinking the potion there is a cooldown time indicated by a «Cooling» icon displayed at the bottom of the vision, which rendered drinking the next bottle useless until it disappeared. On top of that, the first layer NPC shops only sold these low end products, of which only sorrowful tales could be told of their taste.

Putting the taste aside, because of the set cooldown period, healing from heavy injuries took up a lot of time. Therefore, once someone received damage worthy of a potion, they would normally switch with their partner to take it. Falling to the rear (that is, for Pot rotation) was the general theory, but as the number of those who received unexpectedly heavy wounds multiplied, it became easy for the rotation to break down. On higher floors, the dreamlike item which could instantly recover the gauge, «Healing Crystal», could be obtained, so it such recovery is possible if one does not bother with the cost, but it would be asking too much to have one on hand now.

Therefore, how long Agil, the six people under him, Sylvie and his party, who were presently engaging the boss, were able to maintain their HP gauges against the boss's fierce attacks would decide the flow of the battle. For that reason, Kirito shouted out the predictions of Illfang's skills the moment it started its preparation motions.

* * *

"Horizontal slash, right" «Rinshan» dodged to the left just in time as Illfang swiped its' Katana to the right.

"Downward slash, left".

Agil's team of six were not pressured into desperately countering the way Kirito instructed, instead they used their shields and large weapons to guard themselves. In the first place, they were players with «Tank builds», having both high defence and amounts of HP, but receiving zero damage from the boss's released sword skills was impossible. A loud sound effect would occur, and each time, their gauges were gradually reduced.

Sylvie's team of six, however, were heavy hitters. They kept on nitpicking the boss' hp as they switched in and out while using sword skills. Due to this, they needed all the instructions that Kirito had shouted.

In between the two groups, was a single fencer who danced lightly. The rapier-user, Asuna. Never fleeing to the boss's back from its front, as long as Illfang was in a recovery period, «Delay», for even a moment, the chance to impale its body with «Linear» was never wasted. Of course, after repeated strikes the «Hate» value would be focused on Asuna, but the six men who were tanking appropriately used skills such as «Howl» to regain the target's hate to themselves. And having the heavy hitters hit the boss took the agro off her as well.

Even though it was a dangerous battle, the balance in danger of collapsing if even one of the factors failed, the situation still lasted for close to five minutes.

Soon, the boss's HP finally went below twenty percent, and the final gauge was dyed in red.

At that moment, perhaps letting down his guard for a moment but one of the players acting as a tank tripped over. While staggering, where the player stopped, was positioned right behind Illfang.

"...Get out of there quickly!"

Kirito called out reflexively, but it was a moment too late. As the boss felt that it was «In a surrounded state», it gave out an exceptionally ferocious roar.

*Boom*, its large body sank down. Then its entire body sprung up in a high vertical jump. In its trajectory, its body and Nodachi, contorted and rolled as it jumped. It was the omnidirectional attack _Whirling Wheel_ «Tsumujiguruma»――...

"U...ooaa!"

As he gave off a short howl, forgetting that even his own HP had not fully recovered, Kirito jumped from beside the wall.

Kirito did the single handed sword rush technique «Sonic Leap». Its range was shorter than «Rage Spike», but its trajectory could be aimed towards the sky.

The sword in his right hand was wrapped up in a bright yellow-green light. In its path was Illfang's katana, which had reached the apex of its jump, producing a deep crimson shine.

"Reach... it――――!"

As he shouted, Kirito swung his sword.

*Zashuu!* A loud slashing sound emitted. The intense light effects which showed that it was a critical hit flashed in my eyes. In the next moment, the Kobold king's mass was sent tilting to its side, crashing to the ground before the tornado that is its special attack could even form.

"Guruu!"

It yelled, as it tried to stand up as both its feet and arms wobbled. It was a bad status that affected humanoid type monsters, the «Tumble» state ――.

Kirito barely landed successfully, and turned to face Illfang, before shouting out.

"Everyone ――! «Full Attack»! Surround it!"

"O...oooooh!"

Agil's six men shouted as if to release the anger that had concentrated because they were made to guard all this while. Sylvie's party activated their skills and attacked. Surrounding the fallen Kobold king, they activated all their vertical cutting sword skills at the same time. Swords, spear, rapiers, axes, maces and hammers wrapped in lights of various colours, roared as they rained down on its body. Bright lights and loud sound effects exploded, and Illfang's HP gauge which was shown at the top of the field of vision went down scratch by scratch.

This was a gamble. If the Kobold king's HP was reduced to nothing before it got up, it would be our victory. If it gets out of the «Tumble» status first, we would be met with «Tsumujiguruma» again, and this time everyone would be cut down.

Agil's group who had recovered from the delay of their techniques, began to get into the motions for the next skills. The Kobold king stopped struggling at the same time, and its body started to rise.

"...We are not going to make it?!" «Sylvie» heard Kirito say. "Asuna, one final «Linear», let's go for it!"

"Understood!"

The weapons of the twelve people hummed once again, throwing the boss's giant body into a swirl of light effects.

However, before the lights even faded, the boss roared as it stood up. Its HP gauge was left with merely three percent, shining brightly in red.

Agil was still stuck in delay, unable to move. In contrast, Illfang who was attacked while in the «Tumble» state was neither stunned nor knocked back, smoothly entering its vertical jump motion.

"Let's... go!"

As soon as Kirito screamed, he kicked the ground at the same time as Asuna.

Through the gaps in Agil's party, Asuna first sent a «Linear» at the boss's left flank.

Slightly behind it, Kirito's sword coated in a blue light, made a cut from the Kobold king's right shoulder to its stomach.

The HP gauge... was left with a dot.

It felt like the demi-human gave a smirk.

"O...ooooooh!"

Kirito swung his sword with his body and spirit. The blade, which was nicked in several places after the fierce battle, drew a "V" shaped trajectory along with the earlier slash, exiting from Illfang's left shoulder. One-handed-sword two-consecutive-strikes skill «Vertical Arc»――

The Kobold king's gigantic frame, suddenly lost its strength, staggering backward.

Its wolflike face looked at the ceiling, as it gave a howl. On its body, various cracks appeared noisily, snapping and crackling.

Both its hands went slack, and its nodachi fell on the floor. Right after that, Aincrad's first floor's boss, «Illfang the Kobold Lord»'s body shattered into millions of fragments, and scattered in all directions grandly. As Kirito bent backwards under the intangible pressure, the purple system message [You got the last attack!] flickered soundlessly into his vision.

* * *

As the boss disappeared, the remaining Sentinels in the back seemed to have scattered into the void as well.

The hue of the shining torches on the walls changed from a gloomy orange into a bright yellow. The dimness in the boss's room was removed at once, and from goodness knows where a cool wind swept across the room, taking away the heat of the battle.

There was barely any who broke the silence. Group G and E who remained in the back, Group A, C, and F who were on their knees, awaiting recovery, Group D and Agil alongside his Group B, the «Final Wall», sitting on the floor, dazedly looking around. It was almost as if everyone was worried about the terrifying demi-human king reviving.

Everyone was tense—expecting anything to go wrong.

A new message appeared in front of their view. Experience gained. The distribution of col. And finally ―― items obtained.

As everyone that was there saw the same thing, their expressions lightened up. After a short moment, a *Waa!* cheer occurred.

Some people threw both hands up in the air. Some embraced their comrades. Some danced nonsensically. In this storm of uproar, a large figure slowly got off the floor and walked over. It was the two-handed-axe user, Agil.

"...Those were wonderful commands. And brilliant sword skills beyond even that. Congratulations, this victory is rightfully yours."

Even with the English word in the middle, the giant pronounced the sentence perfectly, and as his mouth closed, he had a large grin. His gigantic right hand clenched, and stretched it out.

"Indeed, that was a great battle," Sylvie commented and threw Kirito a thumbs up.

Kirito looked embarrassed and could only say "No—"

"―――― Why!"

Suddenly, that loud shout burst out from behind the group. As they turned around, due to that loud shout that sounded like a lament, the entire room became calm in an instant.

"―――― Why, did you leave Diabel-san to die!"

This man was, Group C... which was the deceased knight Diabel's group, his comrade from the very beginning. The remaining four members behind him, stood looking disheveled. Some of them were crying.

Looking at the scimitar user again, Kirito murmured. "Let him die...?"

"That's right! Because... Because you knew the skills the boss used, didn't you! If you gave us that information from the start, Diabel wouldn't have died!"

Speaking as if he was vomiting blood, the remaining raid members began to mumble. "Now that you mention it..." "Why...? It wasn't even written in the strategy guide..." Such voices were born, and gradually spread across the room.

Giving them the answers, as Kirito had expected, was Kibaou ――

No. He was standing motionlessly further away, as if trying to resist something that was pulling at his mouth. However, one of the team members of Group E under his leadership walked closer toward Kirito, pointing at him with the index finger on his right hand, and said.

"I... I know! This guy: he's a beta tester! That is why, the boss's attack patterns, good hunting spots and quests, he knows all of them! He hid them despite knowing about them!"

Even though he heard those words, the scimitar user and other members from Group C did not show surprise. Instead, the scimitar user's eyes seemed to seethe in hatred, as he tried to shout out something again.

It was interrupted by the mace user who had served as a tank with Agil until the end. He raised his hand honestly, and said in a calm tone.

"Even so, the guide that was handed out yesterday, it was written that it was only information on the boss's attack pattern during the beta period, right? If he was really a beta tester, wouldn't his knowledge be the same as in the guide?"

"Tha, That is..."

Substituting the Group E member who became silent, the scimitar user spoke in a voice dripping with hatred.

"That strategy guide was a lie. Argo's information shop was selling lies. That person was a beta tester after all, there's no way she would have given us the truth for free."

――_This is bad. This is becoming very bad._

"Are you idiots really serious?" asked Sylvie in shock.

"What was that?!" a Group E member shouted in indignation.

"All MMORPG from the past, had beta periods as well. Has _everything_ from those beta periods been the same during the commercial release? Hah?" Sylvie asked in retaliation.

Kirito quietly held his breath. He could endure any amount of condemnation on himself. However, a situation where hostility flares up towards the other testers, starting with Argo, and now the Group D's leader, was one that he want to avoid by all means. But ―― But, what should he do...

At this time, as Kirito looked down on the light black floor. The system message was still vividly displayed. The acquired experience, col, and items...

Instantly.

An idea occurred to him. Additionally, a large conflict within it caused my body to quiver. If Kirito takes this choice, he didn't know what kind of future he would see. There was the risk of being killed in a sneak attack, like what he had feared in the past. However ―― at the very least, the animosity directed against Argo and other beta testers might just be avoidable...

Behind Kirito, in silence, Agil and Asuna who had patiently endured up to this moment, opened their mouths at the same time.

"Hey, you guys..." "You..."

However, Kirito moved his hands to subtly quiet them.

Kirito laughed and took a step forward, intending to have an impudent expression, and coolly looked at the scimitar user's face. He shrugged his shoulders, and told him in a voice as apathetic as he could muster.

"Beta tester, was it? ...Don't lump me together with those amateurs."

"Wha... What was that...?"

"Listen here and remember this. SAO's CBT «Closed Beta Test» had a ridiculously low pass rate for the lottery draw. Out of the one thousand people, how many real MMO gamers do you think got selected? Most of them were just «Newbie» players who didn't even know methods of leveling properly. You guys here are much better than that lot."

At the end of Kirito's contemptuous words, the forty two players fell silent simultaneously. A chill, like the atmosphere before fighting the boss, returned, forming into invisible knives brushing across their skin.

'I see… so that's what he planned," Sylvie thought. 'What a sacrifice on your part…. Black swordsman, you have my respect.'

"――But, I'm not like those guys."

Deliberately sneering, Kirito opened his mouth and broke the silence.

"During the beta test, I reached floors that no one else could reach. I learned of the Katana Skills the boss used since I kept fighting mobs that used katanas from a floor way higher. I know way more other things too, there's no way even that Argo person could even match me."

"...What, is that..."

The person who first pointed me out as a beta tester, the man from Group E, said out in a hoarse voice.

"That's... no longer on the level of a beta tester... that's totally cheating, you are just a cheater!"

From around us, yeah, cheater, cheating beta tester, many voices with those words came out. Those words were soon mixed up together, in the end a strange sounding word, «Beater», reached their ears.

"...«Beater», that has a good ring to it."

Laughing and grinning, Kirito looked around at everybody in that area, and told them in a clear voice.

"Exactly, I am a «Beater». From now on, please do not lump me together with those former testers."

――――_That should do it._

From here on, the current four or five hundred people that seem to be beta testers, will now be further divided into two categories. The majority «Testers who are merely amateurs» and, the remaining few «Information controlling dirty Beaters».

In the future, the hostilities from new players, should be all directed towards Beaters. Suppose a beta tester is found out, players would not hate them on sight.

The scimitar user became pale-faced and fell silent, and along with the members of Group C, they looked away from the Group E member. Kirito opened his menu window and ran his finger along the equipment figure.

The dark gray leather coat that he had worn up till now, was instead set to the unique product dropped by the boss just a moment ago, the «Coat of Midnight». His body was then wrapped in a small glowing light, and the ragged shade of gray was replaced by a shiny jet black leather. Its length also increased, as the hem hit Kirito's knees.

He waved that black long coat with a flourish, turning to his back ―― and faced the small door further inside the boss's room.

"I'll go on and «Activate» the second floor's transfer gate. From the exit up there it will be a short walk to the district town, if you want to come along, be prepared to be killed by any mob that comes along."

Agil, Sylvie and Asuna, stared at Kirito as he continued to walk on.

The three of them had eyes which showed that they understood everything. That was a relief. Kirito faced them and gave a small smile, stepped forward with large strides, and pushed the door to the second floor, right behind the main throne, open.

* * *

Sylvie looked at his party and asked them of what they wanted to do, now that the boss fight was over.

"I will take my leave," said Rinshan first. "I thank you for the party, may you survive through the game," she bowed, left the party and the boss room.

Mardi looked at the group and nodded to them. "…Thank you. I will also take my leave," he said and removed himself from the party before following Rinshan out of the boss room.

Lanris looked at the remaining three-person party and shrugged. "If I could, I would like to stay with your party. I'm pretty much useless if I go solo."

"Alright. We'll set foot on the second floor tomorrow at 9am."

* * *

**A/N: **So… «Solace», «Sylvie», and «Neko» met and partied indefinitely. They also met with «Mardi», «Rinshan», and «Lanris». The first floor is over. Next chapter will feature the 2nd floor of Aincrad!

Translation:_baka = stupid_


End file.
